Worried Witch
by tynytian
Summary: Melody is struggling with her love for Ragna, trying to decide if she should confess her feelings to him until a late-night accident forces her hand.


Sunlight bathed the floor before the window on the humid second story of Melody's bathhouse. She tossed uncomfortably in bed and shut tight her eyes when she turned to face the sun shining in her face. Lazily rolling back the other way, she hung her legs over edge of the bed as she sat up and yawned. She stretched slowly in her thin white night gown before getting up to walk barefooted to her washroom. Even the creak of the floor bothered her as she washed her face and brushed her long pink hair.

"Another dream about him," she whispered to herself as she parted her hair back into two separate tails. She then changed into her dark red dress and a white mantle before donning her tall witch's hat. She took a deep breath as she descended the stairs and said, "It's another beautiful Friday morning, my favorite."

Every week she would get up early and head into the woods south of Kardia to visit her friend Sharron in front of the Kasimir Ruins. On this particular Friday, she decided to get there by going through Mist's farm in the hopes that Ragna might be up. As sure as her eyes were violet, he was outside tending to his plants while his buffamoos grazed on the taller grass in the field.

"Good morning, Ragna!" she said in as cheerful a voice as she could pretend.

He stopped his work and waved as he caught his breath before finally returning the salutations. "Good morning, Melody. Off to the ruins again?" he asked. Melody blushed at the thought that he knew her habits so well, as if he had paid special attention to remember them.

"Yep! It's part of my routine," she replied. "Have a nice day!" she said as she began to retreat to the south of the farm towards Mist's house.

"Yeah, see you later…" said Ragna as he watched her fade off among the trees. A slight tone of disappointment filled his voice as he trailed off. Soon he planned to be off heading towards the very ruins where she was going.

Melody stood staring longingly into the cool waters of the pond before the Kasimir Ruins. She and Sharron hadn't anything really to discuss that day, so Melody just stared into the water. Suddenly she saw Ragna passing behind her in the reflection on the water. She turned and watched as he faded away into the dark ruins, silently praying for his safety. Everyone else in town warned him against going into the mines, but the mayor had enough confidence in him to grant him admittance, so she didn't question it. She did, however, see the aftermath of his ventures into the mines more so than others in town. The sound of him hissing through his teeth for every bandage he removed to soak his wounds he had sustained that day was the most painful sound in the world to Melody. She had come to admire Ragna for his courage, but now as things seemed to be getting more and more difficult for him it seemed that his courage was turning into recklessness. She couldn't bear to see him go, but to look forward to his visit to the bath house everyday was something in which she reveled.

"Oh Ragna, please take care of yourself…" she said wistfully as she still stared at the entrance to the ruins.

At three o'clock she opened up her bath house as usual, and the frequent customers came and went as always. All the women save for Sharron, and all the men except for Zavier came to clean themselves, but hours passed slowly by and Ragna was nowhere to be found. At nine o'clock when everyone else except for her and Emmett were going to bed, he still hadn't come. After deciding that he might just be out on a little late work, or perhaps didn't work much in the ruins and therefore needed no bath, she left her desk to take a dip into the women's side of the hot springs bath.

She sank slowly into bath water, and as she lay naked and submerged her mind returned to a simpler time. Before Ragna entered her life she cared only for the people of Kardia. Her parents had died when she was younger, so she had taken up the family business rather than study magic as she had wanted. She was happy knowing that her bath house was a place for people to come and relax after a hard day's work, or play as in the case of Nicolas and Cecilia. When Ragna arrived in town and took up working on Mist's farm, Melody had seen him as just another person for her to care about and with whom to be friendly when he came to use the bath. When she saw his handiwork firsthand and the toll it took on him inside Mt. Clemens, however, she saw the selfless side of him. She saw the side that was brave beyond comprehension, kind to his monster that accompanied him, and how he took it upon himself to rescue Cecilia from the fiery cavern where no one else would've dared to enter. That had been the first fall since he had arrived in Kardia, but now it was spring and the way he made it by on the average hours of sleep for the work that he did staggered Melody. She couldn't help but to fall in love with him.

"But why can't I just tell him?" she asked herself. "I couldn't say anything to cause any awkward feelings between the two of us, or else he might not come to soothe himself every night. I wouldn't want to cause any further harm to his health that those caves haven't already," she reasoned with herself. In reality, she knew that she was just afraid of what he might say, or how he might react. If he were to reject her, it would be the end of her new joy she had found.

As she finally slid further down the side of the bath until her mouth was just below water, she heard an ethereal sound coming from just inside the closed door to her house. Light shone from the hallway, so she sat quietly and still until she knew who it might be.

"Melody, are you here?" called Ragna in a soft voice. Melody's eyes widened at the thought of her being naked and Ragna was just a few steps away from the door to the women's bath. She realized that he must've teleported in directly from the cave.

"I'm in the bath," she replied as she got out of the water and peeked around the corner to where he was standing. He was holding his side with one hand and a soiled sword in the other. When he heard Melody's response he went rigid, refusing to look to the left towards her.

"I'll just leave the money on the counter and go on in," he said as calmly as he could. Melody snickered quietly to herself at the sight of him acting so flustered.

"Are you alright, Ragna?" she asked with concern. Ragna started off towards the men's bath without realizing that Melody was watching him go.

"I'll be fine. I just have to rest in the hot water for a bit until I can use my healing magic," he explained as he started to slip off his clothes. He then staggered over to the water and sat down into it so it was up to his chest as he threw his arms up on the side to keep himself from sliding all the way in. Melody quickly wrapped a towel around her body and tiptoed over to the men's bath. After watching him sitting in the water motionless for a couple of minutes she saw him stand up again and wade out to the center of the bath. She then noticed the large gash in his side, with a large purple bruise spreading outward from it. She heard him recite a long incantation while covering the wound with his hand until it had completely closed up and the bruise had faded slightly. She smiled seeing him doing well and decided to get dressed and head upstairs to make some relaxation tea. She came downstairs when it was finished to wait at the desk for Ragna to finish so she could say good night and bid him farewell.

Eleven o'clock came and went and Melody's tea cup went dry having been drained of its contents already. After leaving him to himself for an hour, Melody went to check on him. She stood in horror to see Ragna had passed out in the bath. She ran to him and pulled him out of the hot water. Her dress becoming soaking wet in the process, but she didn't care at all. Fortunately he hadn't sunken below the water and drowned. He only overheated and was lying in the shallows of the incline leading out of the bath.

"Oh no! Now I've gone and let you stay in for too long!" Melody cried with tears in her eyes. She struggled, but managed to drag Ragna up to her bedroom, when she attended to him diligently all night long with a rag and some cool water.

"How could I let this happen?" she cried to herself as she dampened his brow with cold water. "I just knew how much he hurt and yet I left him to drown in the hot spring!" She wiped away her tears with the end of her sleeve and got a glass to try and make Ragna drink in his sleep. She dipped it into the bowl of water and held him up while fumbling to hold his mouth open and pour at once. He unconsciously coughed a little before reflex took over and he swallowed the water. "Perhaps if he knew how I felt then he wouldn't be so reckless. Maybe he loves me as well." As she said these things before him, she didn't see him smiling briefly in his sleep.

She couldn't find any sleep until after he finally awoke in the early morning hours. "What happened?" he asked feebly when he opened his eyes to see Melody laying beside him. She was curled up in a ball, having just fallen asleep with the damp rag still in her hand. Her eyes opened slowly at the sound of his voice, and her cheeks flushed at the sight of his face so close to hers.

"You stayed in the bath for too long and passed out," she explained after clearing her throat to hide her excitement. Ragna looked around to find that he was in Melody's bedroom.

"Did you carry me all the way up here?" he asked. She looked down from his face to his previously injured side in a way that Ragna found particularly adorable before responding.

"Yes…" she said quietly as if she were in trouble. Ragna smiled and put his hand on Melody's shoulder, surprising her so that she looked into his eyes for an explanation.

"Thank you," he said with the most honest and happy expression. Melody smiled back and took a deep, joyful breath.

"If you want to thank me, promise me that you'll never do anything crazy like that again." Ragna was struck by what she had said, but he answered seriously.

"You know I can't do that. I have to get to the bottom of what is causing these monsters, for everyone's sake." Melody looked sad and Ragna noticed this.

"Then at least lie to me and tell me that you will always come back to me." Ragna wasn't stupid; it was obvious to him that she loved him and hated to see him getting himself hurt.

"I promise." Melody smiled again and crawled across the bed to lay atop Ragna and hug him. He returned the embrace, but he suddenly realized that he was completely naked beneath the covers on the bed. "Could you get my clothes for me? I have to get to work."

"Oh, of course! Sorry!" said Melody as she hopped out of bed and rushed downstairs to fetch his clothes.

"Did she… see me naked last night?" Ragna asked himself embarrassed. He quickly dressed himself before he heard a knock on the banister from Melody, asking if it was okay to come back up. "Come on up." Melody walked up the stairs and rounded the corner to be met with a curious stare from Ragna.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" she asked quickly. Ragna pulled up his sleeve to show her the clothes she had brought him that he wore underneath his protective outer layer.

"Whose clothes are these? They definitely aren't mine," he said. Melody gave a guilty look and suddenly felt bad for what she had done, of which Ragna didn't yet know.

"Well, I gave you one of the outfits I found laying around here. It was probably my father's shirt and pants." Ragna gave her an accusing look. _Did she intend to keep my clothes?_ Ragna thought. "I decided I'd wash your clothes this morning. I mean, do you take a bath everyday just to get back into your own sweat?" Ragna realized that he hadn't been washing his clothes all that often, so taking daily baths seemed to be counterproductive since his clothes were dirty. Melody then discerned that she had in fact done nothing wrong and was actually doing him a favor, so there was no sense in regretting her actions. She clenched her fist and began again. "You'll just have to wear those clothes for today while I wash yours!" she said sternly.

"Yes ma'am!" he said meekly to her show of authority. He then sulked downstairs to get his other things before heading home, with Melody following right behind him. "Well, I'll be off then," he said sadly. "Thank you for taking care of me." His farewell struck a chord with Melody, causing her to suddenly feel very happy.

"You're welcome. Don't forget your promise!" she said as she waved goodbye. He eventually made his way past Neumann's store and to the street corner before turning around and waving goodbye. "I love you…" she whispered under her breath, wishing she had said those words to him instead of the wind.


End file.
